When he was in high school, Patrick Graham wanted to grow up to work for the CIA. Then he went to work for the Patriots (some days, the jokes, they write themselves). But the new Dolphins defensive coordinator wasn’t tipping his hand on what the Dolphins were specifically looking for as they build, a nod to the multiple fronts the Patriots use to such great effect. “We’re going to do whatever coach [Brian] Flores wants us to do that week, and what we’re going to try to do is try to teach the guys the concepts of the defense, what the coverage is, what the rush is whether we’re rushing three, four, five, six, doesn’t matter,” Graham said, via Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald. “How we deploy those guys in different spots and the outside looking in, you guys see it. It’s going to look multiple. It is going to be multiple. Are we talking about 3-4, 4-3? It’s just going to be multiple. “We’re going to do what we need to do that week and that game. We’re going to try to win that situation, whatever we’re trying to do. If it requires all 11 guys to be on their feet, it requires all 11 guys to be on their feet. If it requires all 11 to be down in a three-point stance, it’ll look weird, but we’ll do it, if we think that’s what it takes to win the game.” He and Flores are coming off a good endorsement of that system, as the Patriots defense they were working on just held the Rams to three points in the Super Bowl. “I don’t want to live in the past,” Graham said of the Super Bowl, “but it was beautiful.” Now he and Flores have a much harder challenge, since they no longer get to work against Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, and have to draw up secret plans against them.
My guess is that they do not know if they are a 3-4 or 4-3 yet. I am pretty sure that it is only a matter of time before we become 3-4, but it is more of a matter of getting the right personnel to run this system. We might be in limbo this year.
I’m all for flexibility and multiple looks. If you want to run one scheme as a base all the time you really need to find ideal physical and skill set players for every position whether on O or D. I”m also very happy that the HC isn’t going to have his head stuck in the playbook for one half of the team.
